From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
The Lord’s Free Men
November 11
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

Sin will reign if it can: it cannot be satisfied with any place below the throne of the heart. We sometimes fear that it will conquer us, and then we cry unto the Lord, “Let not any iniquity have dominion over me. This is His comforting answer: “Sin shall not have dominion over you. ” It may assail you and even wound you, but it shall never establish sovereignty over you.
If we were under the law, our sin would gather strength and hold us under its power; for it is the punishment of sin that a man comes under the power of sin. As we are under the covenant of grace, we are secured against departing from the living God by the sure declaration of the covenant. Grace is promised to us by which we are restored from our wanderings, cleansed from our impurities, and set free from the chains of habit.
We must lie down in despair and be “content to serve the Egyptians” if we were still as slaves working for eternal life; but since we are the Lord’s free men, we take courage to fight with our corruptions and temptations, being assured that sin shall never bring us under its sway again. God Himself giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Never Alone
October 8
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken. (Isaiah 62:4)

“Forsaken” is a dreary word. It sounds like a knell. It is the record of sharpest sorrows and the prophecy of direst ills. An abyss of misery yawns in that word forsaken. Forsaken by one who pledges his honor! Forsaken by a friend so long tried and trusted! Forsaken by a dear relative! Forsaken by father and mother! Forsaken by all! This is woe indeed, and yet it may be patiently born if the Lord will take us up.
But what must it be to feel forsaken of God? Think of that bitterest of cries, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Have we ever in any degree tasted the wormwood and the gall of “forsaken” in that sense? If so, let us beseech our Lord to save us from any repetition of so unspeakable a sorrow. Oh, that such darkness may never return! Men in malice said of a saint, “God hath forsaken him; persecute and take him.” But it was always false. The Lord’s loving favor shall compel our cruel foes to eat their own words or, at least, to hold their tongues.
The reverse of all this is that superlative word Hephzibah “the Lord delighteth in thee.” This turns weeping into dancing. Let those who dreamed that they were forsaken hear the Lord say, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”

From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
The Word, Necessary Food
July 4
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

If God so willed it we could live without bread, even as Jesus did for forty days; but we could not live without His Word. By that Word we were created, and by it alone can we be kept in being, for he sustaineth all things by the Word of His power. Bread is a second cause; the Lord Himself is the first source of our sustenance. He can work without the second cause as well as with it; and we must not tie Him down to one mode of operation. Let us not be too eager after the visible, but let us look to the invisible God. We have heard believers say that in deep poverty, when bread ran short, their appetites became short, too; and to others, when common supplies failed, the Lord has sent in unexpected help.
But we must have the Word of the Lord. With this alone we can withstand the devil. Take this from us, and our enemy will have us in his power, for we shall soon faint. Our souls need food, and there is none for them outside of the Word of the Lord. All the books and all the preachers in the world cannot furnish us a single meal: it is only the Word from the mouth of God that can fill the mouth of a believer. Lord, evermore give us this bread. We prize it above royal dainties.

Obedience brings a blessing on all the provisions which our industry earns for us. That which comes in and goes out at once, like fruit in the basket which is for immediate use, shall be blest; and that which is laid by with us for a longer season shall equally receive a blessing. Perhaps ours is a hand-basket portion. We have a little for breakfast and a scanty bite for dinner in a basket when we go out to do our work in the morning. This is well, for the blessing of God is promised to the basket. If we live born hand to mouth, getting each day’s supply in the day, we are as well off as Israel; for when the Lord entertained His favored people He only gave them a day’s manna at a time. What more did they need? What more do we need?
But if we have a store, how much we need the Lord to bless it! For there is the care of getting, the care of keeping, the care of managing, the care of using; and, unless the Lord bless it, these cares will eat into our hearts till our goods become our gods and our cares prove cankers.
O Lord, bless our substance. Enable us to use it for Thy glory, Help us to keep worldly things in their proper places, and never may our savings endanger the saving of our souls.

From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Hunger Satisfied
November 20
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalm 107:9)

It is well to have longings, and the more intense they are the better. The Lord will satisfy soul-longings, however great and all-absorbing they may be. Let us greatly long, for God will greatly give. We are never in a right state of mind when we are contented with ourselves and are free from longings. Desires for more grace and groanings which cannot be uttered are growing pains, and we should wish to feel them more and more. Blessed Spirit, make us sigh and cry after better things and for more of the best things!
Hunger is by no means a pleasant sensation. Yet blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Such persons shall not only have their hunger relieved with a little food, but they shall be filled. They shall not be filled with any sort of rough stuff, but their diet shall be worthy of their good Lord, for they shall be filled with goodness by Jehovah Himself.
Come, let us not fret because we long and hunger, but let us hear the voice of the psalmist as he also longs and hungers to see God magnified. “Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.”

As many of you know I have health problems, and some of those health issues cause me to be susceptible to every virus that is brought around me. That is one of the struggles when you have Epstein-Barre Syndrome, every time someone has the flu, a virus, colds, strep throat, or any other such thing, I get it. So my last few weeks have been filled with these things. I spent a lot of time down with the flu, a sore throat and a ear infection, along with dealing with my pain from arthritis, bone spurs, and fibromyalgia. But I didn’t let this all keep me from doing something constructive…something that I’m still working on. With the cost of things going up in the U.S., and government budget cuts that affected my husband with a 6 month layoff, we found ourselves in the same position as many Americans, living from pay day to payday, well actually more like payday to the week before the next payday. So I set out to find a way to help my husband with finances, despite having to spend so much time in bed due to pain. A couple weeks ago while straightening up things in my room, I found a program that my husband got me that allows me to design cross stitch designs. I can use my photos, clipart, or my own artwork to create beautiful design instructions for other cross stitchers. For those who do not know what this is, it is a type of embroidery where simple X’s are made on canvas to complete a design using embroidery thread. I’m still working on getting designs together, but I’m also researching ecommerce sites that offer what I need to have my own site. I’m praying God’s leading, direction and blessing on this endeavor. I’m hoping that it will be the help my family needs to get through this tough time. However in doing this I’m not able to spend too much time blogging, or on other things. I’ve had to cut down other activities on the computer, even time on Facebook and on my email. I know once I get it up and running I will have more time for other things though. I wanted to share some of the designs I’ve finished working on in this post. Each design comes with…

the original photograph or artwork I used,

a jpeg of the finished design,

a pdf of a black and white representation of the design with symbols showing wear each color goes,

a stitch pattern pdf showing what the finished work looks like in cross stitch,

a color key pdf showing the colors of embroidery thread used for that design, and the measurements of it.

a pdf with color blocking of the design, for those who prefer to use a color graph without symbols

and a pdf with color blocking with the symbols.

I’ve worked on hard designs for those who are looking for a challenge, medium designs for those who are at the intermediate level, and easier designs for those who are new to cross stich along with children who are just learning how to cross stitch.

I’m rejoicing to have found some way of using my own drawings and photos in a way to help my family. Please pray with me that this works out, and that God will bless each step and open the doors along the way. Below are some of the designs I’m finished with. Enjoy!

An angel, one of many I drew and designed.

A chocolate milkshake from my

art.

Woman with the Alabaster Jar of oil.

A parfait from my artwork.

Blueberry Muffin

A Cupcake with Pink Icing and Sprinkles

Stained Glass design

Original artwork

Stained glass design done in cross stitch. It looks better without the glare from my camara.

Very colorful parrots

A secluded waterfall.

King Solomon

Bird and Flower

Fashion Face. I love designing hats, shoes and clothes. Jk wants me to make a bunch like these and make them into a quilt for her bedroom.

For the last few weeks I’ve been working on compiling a list of awards that are here on WordPress. Some of these awards many of us have received over and over, so I thought we needed some fresh ones to share.

The first one is The Full of Heart Blogging Award. It is to be given to bloggers who write from their hearts, no matter what the emotion, but you must be able to feel their heart through their words.

Rules for this award are…

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog.

Share the people or things you love most in an anagram using the word HEART.

(Example: H…Hearing laughter from my family

E…Every single day that I am alive.

A…All my family

R…Reading Books

T…The Bible

3. Nominate 7 other bloggers, and notify them of their nomination.

Since I designed this award I will thank God for the inspiration to design it. My anagram is the example listed above, but I will nominate 7 bloggers to recieve this award. They are as follows…

Award #2 is The Super Sweet Blogging Award. This award goes to those bloggers who give the sweetest comments, or have the sweetest blog.

The rules are…

Say something sweet about the blogger who nominated you, thank them and then link to their blog.

Answer the following questions…

a. Cookies or Cake? (My answer is both, because it depends on my mood and the type.)

b. Chocolate or Vanilla? (My answer is Vanilla, unless it is a candy.)

c. What is your favorite sweet treat? (Mine is Chex Turtle Mix)

d. When do you crave sweet things the most? (Not often but usually when I real low on energy.)

e. If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be? ( Mine would be Chocolate Covered Cherry)

Nominate a “Baker’s Dozen” (13) other bloggers for the award and notify them of their nomination.

Since I designed this award I will thank God for inspiration and my husband for fixing my computer and keeping it running right. My answers to the questions are in parentheses next to the questions, and here are my nominees for the award…

That’s my Baker’s Dozen, and they are really sweet people who deserve to be noticed.

#3 of my awards is The Crafty Blogger Award, and is an award that I believe should go to those bloggers who are crafty and are always posting things they have made or want to make, or share craft ideas with their readers, or who share their creativeness through art or photography.

The rules are..

This award should be given to those who show crafty projects they have made on their blog.

Thank the blogger who nominated you, and place a link to their blog in your post.

Tell about the greatest home made gift you gave or received.

Nominate 5 other bloggers for this award and notify them of their nomination.

Since I designed this one I will thank all those craft bloggers who have inspired me throughout the years, and God who gave me the gift of being creative.

I’ve had the joy of making special gifts for many others and for being given great homemade gifts, so I will mention one I was given, in fact I’m given every year. My sister-in-law started a tradition a few years ago of making clear glass ornaments with special things in them and a slip of paper attached with an encouraging thought. She has encouraged us to have faith, to dream, to love, and more through these ornaments, and it is one of my favorite Christmas gifts each year. I can’t wait to see what she has come up with each year for us to add to our Christmas tree.

My 5 nominees for this award are all bloggers who inspire me through their crafty posts, their art, or their photography. They are…

#6 of the awards I designed is The Imaginative Youth Blogging Award. This award was designed because of all the homeschooling parents out there sharing ideas for our children. So it is meant for those who share things for our youth, whether lessons, crafts, words of wisdom, or such. But it must be things that help young people, not hurt them.

The Rules are…

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog.

2. Share a story from your youth, or if you are still young (20 or younger) share a hope and dream you have for your future.

3. Nominate 5 other bloggers and notify them of their nomination.

Here is a story from my youth…wow, I just went blank…lol. Hmmm.. .okay here is one I haven’t written about. When I was 7 and 8 years old we lived in Biloxi, Mississippi, because my dad was stationed there. We lived in base housing that was surrounded by a swamp filled with snakes, including water moccassins. Across the swamp from where we lived was the V.A. Hospital, where there was lots of land surrounding it, big enough for a few sports fields. My brothers and I, along with a few other G.I. brats use to climb a large tree that had a branch that crossed over the swamp, and we would drop into the Hospital lawn. We would play ball and other games until we got caught. One day the military police were waiting for us as we started dropping out of the tree. After taking us all home, they chopped down our favorite branch so we couldn’t do it again. I won’t tell you what we started doing to get back at them, but let’s just say it involved other trees, netting and snakes as surprises as they patrolled the sides of the swamp.

I love sharing things from these blogs with my daughter, Jk, and so they are well deserving of this award.

Finally, here is the last award I designed. It is The Family of Bloggers Award, and was designed with the thought that there are many guys who also blog that might not want the Sisterhood of Bloggers award…lol. Really, I’ve come to think of many bloggers as a part of my family and so this award was designed with them in mind.

The rules are…

Thank the person who nominated you and tell them what family member they would be if they were really related to you.

Place a link to the blog of the person who nominated you in your post.

Tell what attributes you bring to the family, using an anagram of the word FAMILY.

(Example)…F…Fun

A…Artistic side

M…Maturity

I…Intelligence

L…Laughter

Y…Youthfulness

4. Nominate at least 4 other people to be in your family of bloggers, and for this award, and notify them of their nomination.

Since I designed this one I will thank all those bloggers who have been so warm and encouraging that I have felt like part of their family, like that crazy aunt…lol. Here are my 4 nominees…